Manticore
The Manticore is a mythological Persian beast and a mini-boss in God of War: Ascension. Mythology The Manticore (in early middle Persian Merthykhuwar) is a Persian legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx that proliferated in western European medieval art as well. It has the head of a human, body of a lion and a tail of venomous spines similar to porcupine quills, while other depictions have it with the tail of a scorpion. There are some accounts that the spines can be shot like arrows, thus making the manticore a lethal predator. It eats its victims whole, using its triple rows of teeth, and leaves no bones behind. In the God of War Series The Manticore is a flying sub-boss presented with a lion-like face, the jaw of a shark, which can become unhinged, dragon wings, human arms and torso, a scorpion tail and scorpion-like plates lining its back. One of them lived in Delphi, where numerous eggs of the monster could be found. This first Manticore first attacks Kratos by trying to make him fall from one of the Python mechanisms and having a short fight against him in the air. It attacks Kratos again at the top of the Tower of Delphi in a fierce fight. In this fight, it could fly and spit fire at Kratos from the air. While on the ground, the Manticore focus on tail attacks, and can throw spikes from its scorpion tail. If one of these spikes hits Kratos, he needs to remove it quickly. It can also try to blow Kratos away by slamming its wings together, but this move can be blocked. Kratos first stabs the monster with one Blade, and it flies back, but he keeps pulling it with the Blade's chain. After evading the Manticore's air attacks, he will pull himself to it and tear off the beast's wing, which is also its frontal left leg, which prevents it from flying again. After weakening it again, Kratos jumps on the Manticore's belly and stabs its chest repeatedly, while avoiding its scorpion tail, and then he grabs this tail, cuts its sting off and stabs it in the monster's mouth, killing it. Another Manticore is found flying in Delos. Kratos jumps on it and uses it to fly from the Statue of Apollo to its Lantern, and makes the beast collide with a sharp end of the Lantern's roof, cutting its left wing and leg in the process. It fights Kratos the same way the first Manticore did after it had already lost its wing, and is also killed in the same manner. Multiplayer The Manticore is also the boss of the new map of the Trial of the Gods mode: The Tower of Delphi. This version of the monster is notably bigger than its original form in singleplayer, has the ability of blocking attacks with its wings and none of its attacks can be blocked by the players. It will appear for the first time in the second round, dropping fireballs in a quick flight above an unfortunate player, but then will go away. It will land on the Tower and fight players for the first time in the third round. As stated above, none of the monster's attacks can be blocked, so evading is the best option to escape from them. A servant of Poseidon cannot freeze it, but can cover it in ice, slowing it down for some time. After wounding the Manticore, it will fly away again, dropping fireballs in its escape, too. Finally, in the last round, the Manticore will land on the arena and fight once again. This time, when it's wounded, it will fly, but instead of going away, it will keep flying above the players. It must be hit while it's in the air, but it's important to remember that it can attack, too, by swinging its tail and spitting fire. After wounding it again, the beast will fall and keep fighting on the ground. Once stunned (with the gold halo above its head), the Manticore must be grabbed by a player, who must complete a quick time event to cut its left wing off, just like Kratos does when fighting it. The beast keeps fighting without its ability to fly or blow players away with its wings. The Manticore finally meets its demise when a red halo appears above its head. The warrior who grabs it at this time will leap to its chest, stab it and keep pulling the beast down. While the Manticore is being pulled and is unable to attack, another red halo appears. The other player must grab it to jump on it, cut its tail's sting and stab it in the monster's mouth, just like Kratos does, once again. Shortly after the Manticore's death, the players will win the match. Manticore Hatchlings Small Manticores hatch out of eggs, which can be found in several occasions in the game, but more specifically in Delphi, where they are found in big numbers. The Manticore bosses could spit eggs too, and these hatch instantly. The Manticore Hatchlings are moderately weak but strong when in big numbers. Their attack style is similar to Harpies, except they breathe fire. By grabbing them, Kratos will pull them to him and kick them away, harming any enemy in its path. Kratos kills these small monsters by stepping on their backs and pulling them by their tails, which tears them in a half. Some Manticore Hatchlings have lightning powers instead of fire ones, and are stronger than the normal Hatchlings. These can be found in Delos. They can attack Kratos by trying to choke him with their electric scorpion tail, and are killed in the same way as the normal Hatchlings. 'Death scene: '''If Kratos can't shake it off and runs out of health when a Manticore Hatchling is choking him, it will electrify him, ending in his death. In Multiplayer, they are also present in many ''Trial of the Gods maps, such as the Rotunda of Olympus, the Desert of Lost Souls and, of course, the Tower of Delphi where they fight alongside the boss Manticore. Trivia * It should be noted that the Manticore does not have arms that are separate to its wings in the God of War universe, this is different to the one in actual mythology as that had a lion body complete with four legs. * In the earlier versions of the Manticore's design, the beast had hair as well as spines, this idea was scrapped as one of the developers thought that it made no sense for the Manticore to only have hair in one place. * If Manticore Hatchling eggs are left undestroyed, Feral Hounds will also spawn from some of them. * When an enemy evades an attack from a player, it shortly becomes white, indicating it's invincible as long as it's evading. The Manticore could evade attacks by rolling back, too, but when it evades an attack, it glows purple instead of white. This is highly likely to be a design error and can be associated to the fact that the Manticore was inserted in Multiplayer as a new content and was not perfectly adapted to the game, although it does seem to work well in it in many other aspects. * Though in mythology, the Manticore is said to leave no trace of its victims behind, the Manticore at Delphi spits the Oracle Seeker from its mouth right before fighting with Kratos. * If you hear carefully any random roar, one of the Manticore's roar is mixed with that of Tyrannosaurus Rex in Dino Crisis Videos God of War Ascension Manticore Boss Fight Gallery Kratos vs beast.jpg Kratos vs beast 2.jpg Manticore land fight 3.JPG Manticore land fight 2.JPG Manticore land fight 1.JPG Manticore.jpg|Manticore Fight Concept Art Manticora Izzy Concept Art.JPG|Manticore Concept Art Manticora model.JPG|Manticore Model Riding Manticore.jpg Kratos Face to Face.jpg gowa-manticoreconcept1.jpg|Early Concept #1 gowa-manticoreconcept2.jpg|Early Concept #2 gowa-manticoreconcept3.jpg|Early Concept #3 Manticore feast.JPG manticore_baby.jpg|manticore spawn Manticore Spawn model.jpg|Manticore Hatchling (De-colored) Video Related pages *Persian *Sphinx *Chimera de:Mantikor Category:God of War: Ascension Category:Enemies Category:Monsters Category:Bosses Category:God of War Series Category:Species Category:Persian Mythology Category:Persian Monsters